Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

June 11, 2015June 10, 2015 | Megan

This outfit is just about as standard as they come. Camo jacket, grey tee, jean skirt, converse. CHECK. The reality is, outfits like these are the ones that get me through the everyday. So it may be standard, but this ensemble is just right for REAL LIFE!

Plus, if you haven’t gotten on the army surplus/camo train yet, you might be pleasantly surprised with how flexible and wardrobe friendly these pieces are. Jacket, t-shirt, or pants, I’ve seen this trend worn in multiple ways and all of them add some outfit fun. I have worn this same coat over a hot pink dress to diffuse the princess and anything striped also looks great in contrast to camo. Who knew?

Hope your Thursday is rockin’.

XX, Megan

Jacket: Old Navy (old, similar, similar, similar), T-shirt: Old Navy, Skirt: Banana Republic (similar, similar), Shoes: Converse, Sunglasses: Ray-ban

Lentil and Beet Salad with Honey Lemon Dill Dressing

June 10, 2015June 9, 2015 | Megan

I am jonsing on this salad. It is fresh, it is delicious, and it was really, really, easy to make!

Wednesday is really our get-all-of-our-stuff-done day over here at casa Refined + Rugged. With summer this catching up has really turned into choring, listing, and doing a lot of run around errands each Wednesday. So when I have the opportunity to make my evening as chill and as relaxing as possible by simply preping a salad in the morning to eat that night, I’m on board.

Plus, then I don’t have to feel so bad about my toast addiction (although we also ate homemade wheat bread with this meal) or my random lunch choices. Read: eating leftover veggies from the kids’ plates and really wishing for another piece of toast! 🙂

This salad was so delicious that my husband asked if he could take the leftovers with him on an upcoming cycling race. Instead of sending leftovers, I’ll be whipping up a fresh batch of this for him for the road!

Do not let your jaw drop when you hear that I got this delicious salad from The Scramble. We recently had friends over for dinner and couldn’t stop singing the praises of this awesome meal planning service. We love this site so much, we just can’t help but share our enthusiasm!

I hope your Wednesday is as bright and cheery as leftover beet juice!

XX, Megan

Ingredients for Main Dish

2 cups cooked lentils, (or 1 cup uncooked)
4 beets, diced
1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
1/2 lemon, juice only, about 1/4 cup
1 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. fresh dill, finely chopped, or use ½ tsp. dried dill

Sides

Whole wheat bread and pistachios.

If you are steaming the beets yourself (I’ve heard that Trader Joe’s actually has a vacuum package of beets, so yay for you if you can grab one of those) you’ll need to start your salad well in advance of your meal. Steam the 4 beets, green stems removed, in 1-2 inches of water, simmering with the lid on for around 45 minutes or until they are tender.

When your beets are halfway finished, boil 2 cups of water for your 1 cup of lentils. (This is only if you have quick-cooking lentils, make sure to read the packaging on yours as some of them need to be soaked overnight!) Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile you can mix up your dressing. Mix the oil, lemon juice (I used 1 whole lemon instead of just 1/2), honey, and dill in a large measuring cup. Whisk thoroughly. Set aside.

When your beets are finished simmering, drain under cold water and then skin them with your fingers or you can use a vegetable peeler. Let them beets cool for a few more minutes as you drain your lentils. Allow both to cool to near room temperature. Then dice the beets, and mix the beets, lentils, and feta in a medium bowl.

Top the entire salad with all of the dressing and toss gently.

ENJOY!

1. Simmer beets and lentils.

2. Mix the dressing.

3. Dice the beets.

4. Toss the salad gently with the dressing.

4. EAT!

*The Scramble is a meal planning service to which you can subscribe here. For a fantastic price you will receive 5 weekly meals which means 5 recipes (main course plus a side dish), complete grocery list, the ability to tweak the number of people you are making for, and full nutrition facts. PLUS tips as to how best to PREP your meal beforehand, add a punch of FLAVOR, and how to SLOW COOK almost every recipe if you’re especially slammed that night. This wonderful service really does live up to it’s name. You can come home at 6 p.m. and be sitting down to a DELICIOUS, HEALTHY, HOME COOKED meal by 6:30 p.m. most nights.

Bright White

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 | Megan

DSC_0071 - Version 2

I really cannot get enough of the all-white get up. I wore another all white look earlier this Spring, and it still feels so right as our green hills turn a little more yellow.

The crisp clean of all-white just speaks to me. Yes, I realize that it also speaks to super visible stains and sticky hand prints for all of you primary parents out there. Yes, I realize for SO MANY reasons it seems completely impractical, but I’ll continue to lean on clorox as my excuse to wear this sort of mix.

This week has already been so full, I cannot believe it is only Tuesday. I am looking forward to the rest of our goings and doings and hoping you are each having and experiencing a wonderful existence in this time sequence!

XX, Megan

Sweater: Ann Taylor, Jeans: J.Crew, Shoes: Vans (and here), Sunglasses: Karen Walker ‘Super Duper’, Watch: Rolex Submariner (gift), Lips: Mac Candy Yum-Yum

A Wrinkle In Time

June 8, 2015June 7, 2015 | Megan

Let’s try this again, shall we?

I have been trying to get this post in order for nearly two weeks, and I’m pretty sure it ghost posted it last Tuesday when I forgot to send it back to the drafting board for major revisions! (Read: I was still trying to finish re-reading the book!) So here is my RE-vised post about my RE-read of this wonderful book: A Wrinkle In Time.

Do you have a favorite book you read as a child or a young adult? Do you have a book that you still remember vividly even though it has been many, many, (maybe I should put three many’s here because I am in my thirties?) many years since you have read it? Do you have a book(s) that has changed you somehow? Maybe all literature changes us. I haven’t thought on that enough, or formulated a lengthy treatise on the subject.

Maybe LITERATURE is LITERATURE because it’s intent is to CHANGE US– to make us better people in the reading– the purpose of all FINE ART, yes? For purposes of this post it would sound grandiose to say, “The book that changed me most was A WRINKLE IN TIME, by Madeline L’Engle.”

But that statement wouldn’t be totally accurate. In fact, the moment I purposed that statement to myself in my head to write here on the page I began listing other books that changed me, that have sunk in deep. I’ve shared some of them here already– Desert Solitaire, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian are a few I’ve shared here on my blog.

But some other young adult titles come to mind like The Giver, and Maniac Magee, and To Kill A Mocking Bird, and The Devil’s Arithmetic, and Night by Eli Wiesel, and The Book Thief, to name a few.

The ephemera that has stayed with me surrounding A Wrinkle In Time is that it is one of the first books where I not only fell in love with the BOOK itself, I fell in love with the AUTHOR. After finishing A Wrinkle In Time, I remember heading to my elementary school library in search of other titles by Madeline L’Engle. That desire to read everything that someone has written is still a great way to find great books.

I also remember A Wrinkle In Time because it was my soft introduction to sic-fi/fantasy. A genre that I don’t really read much now as an adult, but I remember how much I loved L’Engle’s mix of space, time, science, and off-planet experiences. Now listen, you don’t have to be a geek to enjoy L’Engle’s works.

In fact, they are perfect easy adult reads for lazy summer evenings, and I dare you to read (or re-read) A Wrinkle In Time and NOT seek out the other titles in this series– A Wind In The Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. The premise of A Wrinkle In Time is Meg Murray and her younger brother Charles Wallace’s search for their missing father. A renowned physicist who has gone missing in a top-secret government mission to… the children can only guess.

I cannot get enough of L’Engle’s word use, character descriptions, or dialogue. I revel in her easy use of beautiful verbiage, too. Maybe that sounds like a standard description of what a writer is hoping to do in a text, use beautiful language.

But I’ve recently read some books where the dialogue seemed forced, the word choice sup-par, and the plot over-burdened with drama and continuous details that felt as though the author wasn’t simply trying to navigate you through their story, but bludgeon you with crazy circumstances to keep you reading, i.e ala evening news style. (The House We Grew Up In, I don’t recommend the read.)

Last of all, I love L’Engle for her heart. Yes, ever the sap. I love that Madeline L’Engle loves. She loves to write. She loves her characters, and love is her driving motivation in her work. You can hear it and feel it, and it will fill you up through this book!

XX, Megan

Pope Watch Father’s Day + 100 Posts

June 5, 2015June 5, 2015 | Megan

Today I am celebrating 100 posts here on Refined + Rugged. WooHoooo!! Party, Confetti, Dancing, Celebration, Cake, Smiles. These are all the emoji I would attach to this event 🙂

I want to thank you all for reading, following, commenting, sharing, liking, supporting, and just being awesome friends and readers all-around. THANK YOU! Thank you very much!

As a special thanks to Rugged + Refined readers, I am attaching a discount code for the gorgeous watch above from Pope Watch Co. The code, good for $150.00 off the purchase of a watch is: rrfathers150. Good through Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, again, you will receive $150.00 off the purchase price of a watch at checkout.

You can redeem your coupon code HERE, at the Pope Watch Co. site. Just put rrfathers150 into the coupon box at checkout. Do you know any Rugged or Refined Father’s you’d like to gift something special to this Father’s Day? This is the perfect gift for that special man in your life– Husband, Partner, Father, Grandfather, Uncle, Brother, Friend!

Let me back up a little bit and give you a bit of Pope Watch Co. history, i.e. allow me to brag for a moment. Ahem.

Pope was started in 2013 by my husband, Perry. He worked with a watchmaker in Switzerland who aligned with his design and manufacturing vision. He designed every detail of P-70 himself. He had a cad team draft the 3-D specs, did all of the advertising and marketing for the watch up front, and Kickstarted the project successfully that same year! (Many of you supported and enable the success of that endeavor and we are grateful and thankful still!)

The P-70 is aviation inspired taking design cues from WWII era bombers and pilot garb. The watch is classic, with a large face, wide leather band, and timeless styling. The band features perforated leather and an awesome pinch clasp unlike any I’ve ever seen. I have featured the watch on my blog several times: here, here, here, here. Not because my husband is the designer and creator, not because I wanted to simply promote his company, but because I LOVE THE WATCH.

The P-70 is one of my daily watch wears. I think it looks just as incredible on a female as it does on a male. I wear the black perforated strap and the styling and quality truly set it apart from other watches!

600_8949

If you don’t gift one of these for Father’s Day, maybe consider purchasing a P-70 for yourself! 😉 No shame in incorporating masculine styling and design into your wardrobe!

Pope Watch Co. Coupon Code: rrfathers150

XX, Megan